Bench led by Justice Gavai to hear plea against Waqf (Amendment) Act
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New Delhi: A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, on Monday directed that the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, be listed before the Justice B.R. Gavai-led bench for further hearing.
At the outset, CJI Khanna stated that the Bench, which also includes Justices Sanjay Kumar and K.V. Viswanathan, had reviewed the pleadings, though not in detail, and did not intend to reserve its judgement at the interim stage due to his impending retirement.
"We will post it before the bench of Justice Gavai on Wednesday or Thursday," the bench said.
CJI Khanna is set to step down from the highest judicial office in the country on May 13 upon reaching the age of 65. Following his retirement, Justice Gavai, currently the senior-most puisne judge of the Supreme Court, will be sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India.
In the previous hearing, the Supreme Court granted the Centre, state governments, and Waqf Boards a week to submit their preliminary replies.
The court decided to designate five writ petitions as lead cases, while other pleas would be treated as intervention applications. Additionally, it directed the registry to rename the cause titles of the proceedings as "In Re: The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025."
During the hearing, the Union government assured the Supreme Court that it would not de-notify provisions related to 'waqf by user' or include non-Muslim members in the Waqf Board.
The matter was scheduled for further hearing on May 5, with the apex court stating that the next session would be a preliminary hearing, and interim orders would be issued if necessary.
On April 28, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a new petition challenging the amendments to the Waqf Act, 1995. A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna informed the petitioner that the court could not handle numerous petitions on the same issue. It advised the petitioner to consider filing an intervention application in the ongoing pleas challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.
(inputs from IANS)
